Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Senegal and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1967.
I was there at the first Rodriguez show in Detroit.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1960 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Tehran.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Groovy Waters to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Q and Not U. All the underground hits.
All Be Bop Deluxe tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Johnny Clarke record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a sitar and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Blackbyrds record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Mojo Men,
David Axelrod,
Mary Jane Girls,
Black Sheep,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Aswad,
The Pretty Things,
Stereo Dub,
Theoretical Girls,
Organ,
Ponytail,
Spandau Ballet,
the Fania All-Stars,
Q and Not U,
Camron Feat. Memphis Bleek And Beenie Seigel,
Sparks,
Eddi Front,
Lalo Schifrin,
Jawbox,
Pantytec,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Lee Hazlewood,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
James White and The Blacks,
U.S. Maple,
LL Cool J,
Second Layer,
Eden Ahbez,
H. Thieme,
DNA,
Marshall Jefferson,
Quadrant,
the Normal,
Kerri Chandler,
Hashim,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Lebanon Hanover,
Bang On A Can,
Glambeats Corp.,
Sandy B,
Alphaville,
The Techniques,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Tres Demented,
B.T. Express,
Joey Negro,
Aaron Thompson,
Letta Mbulu,
Judy Mowatt,
Beasts of Bourbon,
La Düsseldorf,
The Slits,
Funkadelic,
Amon Düül,
Neu!,
Jeff Mills,
L. Decosne,
Erykah Badu,
Godley & Creme,
Charles Mingus,
Harry Pussy,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Yellowson,
Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones, Terrestrial Tones.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.